Microsoft Adds AI-Powered Actions to Windows File Explorer

Microsoft has begun rolling out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27938 to the Canary Channel.

This latest update brings powerful AI-powered features directly into File Explorer, allowing users to interact with images and documents without ever leaving the file browser.

AI Actions in File Explorer

The standout addition in Build 27938 is AI actions in File Explorer.

With a simple right-click on a supported file, users will see a new “AI actions” option in the context menu.

Selecting this entry opens a list of tasks that leverage Microsoft’s AI and Copilot capabilities, so you can quickly edit images, summarize documents, or perform other automated edits without opening a separate app.

AI actions integrate with existing Windows tools—Photos, Paint, and Bing Visual Search—so your workflow stays intact.

Four image-specific AI actions are available at launch:

• Bing Visual Search: Use an image to search the web—identify landmarks, plants, famous faces, or products without typing a single keyword.
• Blur Background: Open the Photos app to isolate your subject and blur everything behind it. Adjust blur intensity or use a brush tool to fine-tune which areas are blurred.
• Erase Objects: In Photos, highlight unwanted elements in your picture and remove distractions with Generative Erase.
• Remove Background: Open Paint to automatically detect and cut out your subject in one click, creating a clean image with no background.

Supported file formats for these AI image actions include .jpg, .jpeg, and .png.

Enhanced Clock with Seconds

Build 27938 also revives a popular Windows 10 feature: a larger clock with seconds in the Notification Center.

Insiders can now display a more precise clock above the date and calendar.

To enable it, navigate to Settings > Time & language > Date & time and toggle on Show time in the Notification Center.

This update offers both collapsed and expanded views, displaying seconds in real time for easier tracking.

A new section under Settings > Privacy & security > Text and image generation shows which third-party apps have used Windows-provided generative AI models.

Users gain visibility and control over which applications can access local AI features, enhancing transparency and privacy.

Several reliability fixes ship with Build 27938:

• Fixed “Reset this PC” under Settings > System > Recovery.
• Corrected low-space drive color in dark mode for File Explorer’s This PC view.
• Restored thumbnails for certain video files with specific EXIF metadata.
• Improved performance for WMI Registry scanning.
• Addressed blank icons on Sign-in options at the lock screen.
• Reduced search loading issues and fixed touch-keyboard IME input errors.
• Resolved Task Manager freezing when viewing performance metrics.
• Fixed green-screen errors related to ntoskrnl.exe and CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED in Canary builds.

Insiders may encounter installation errors (0xC1900101-0x20017 or 0xC1900101-0x30017), causing rollbacks.

Microsoft is actively working on a solution.

Some settings pages may hang when scanning temporary files, and PIX on Windows cannot play GPU captures until a PIX update arrives in late September.

Audio issues for certain devices and screen flickers in browsers are under investigation

Microsoft encourages feedback via the Feedback Hub under relevant categories: Files, Folders, and Online Story > File Explorer for AI actions and Desktop Environment > Clock and Calendar Flyout for the clock update.

Microsoft reminds Insiders that Canary builds showcase early platform changes and may never ship to production.

Features may evolve, be removed, or shift channels. For full build details and flight status, check Flight Hub.

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